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On May 6th the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration ("TIGTA" or internal government watchdog over the IRS) issued a scathing report that found, from 2003 through 2013, 1,580 IRS employees committed willful tax violations. These cases included willful overstatement of expenses, claiming the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit without buying a home, and repeated failure to timely file required Federal tax returns.

It should be noted that a willful act is the voluntary intentional violation of a known legal duty (timely filing of a tax return or accurate reporting of a tax obligation). A willful violation of tax law is a criminal act. This means jail time to the average person, but not IRS employees according to the TIGTA report.

Current law requires that the IRS terminate employees who are found to have willfully violated tax law. However, the law also gives the IRS Commissioner the sole authority to mitigate cases to a lesser penalty. The TIGTA report di…

On May 6th the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration ("TIGTA" or internal government watchdog over the IRS) issued a scathing report that found, from 2003 through 2013, 1,580 IRS employees committed willful tax violations. These cases included willful overstatement of expenses, claiming the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit without buying a home, and repeated failure to timely file required Federal tax returns.

It should be noted that a willful act is the voluntary intentional violation of a known legal duty (timely filing of a tax return or accurate reporting of a tax obligation). A willful violation of tax law is a criminal act. This means jail time to the average person, but not IRS employees according to the TIGTA report.

Current law requires that the IRS terminate employees who are found to have willfully violated tax law. However, the law also gives the IRS Commissioner the sole authority to mitigate cases to a lesser penalty. The TIGTA report …